Destiny aka Fate
by CarterMacGyver
Summary: parker's destiny is smiliar and at all points different than what jarod thought, and maybe his is too. can they change it, and do they want to? will be JMP
1. Chapter 1

A/N:here's the first chapter of another little adventure that's been kicking around in my head lately. Muse is feeling very abandoned and lonely lately (probably because most papers tend not to involve her) so as a treat I wrote and am posting this. Hope you enjoy, please remember to review, because then muse really feels loved and creates another chapter.

Disclaimer:I don't own pretender, I really don't. so please don't sue. I'm not actually sure that I even own my own pillow, so you would get nothing but student loans.

Destiny

Parker sat behind the large desk that dominated what had once been her father's office. So much had changed over the years since she had returned from Corporate, and the changes kept coming.

Mr. Parker had once told her that she looked good sitting behind his desk, in his chair, and that rare praise had reminded her that she was meant for this office, had reminded her that the man who had lied, cheated, and abused her for her entire life had also groomed her meticulously since the age of eight for this.

The indomitable Miss Parker was the Chairwoman of the Centre.

The dark forces that had controlled the Centre for generations, since its beginning, had learned after Carthis that Parker was a force they could not stop, and had never controlled. When it had seemed as if the Chairman's office, at that moment controlled by Raines, was closed to her, Parker had simply gone to the Triumvirate. None of those three were happy with the fact that in six long years of chasing, Jarod was still free, and was even then extremely close to completing his goal of reuniting his family.

But Parker had offered no excuses for the lack of complete success, but she had also offered no reasons. Instead she had been given a seat on the legendary Triumvirate. The other two members did not know why their aged and learned colleague not only gave up his seat, but had given it up in favor of the much younger Parker.

With Jarod incommunicado and tracing the whereabouts of the final member of his family, his mother, Parker used the time to consolidate her power, while also maintaining her anonymity. She wanted no one at the Centre to know that she was the new member of the Triumvirate.

With her seat on the Triumvirate secure she had returned to Blue Cove and with the impeccable style and cunning that had always been her trademark, even if people had the habit of underestimating her, she had begun to arrange the downfall of William Raines and the insidious Mr. Lyle.

But while destroying them, she had found there true betrayal. Shocked and horrified at what they had done, Parker reacted the same way as when they had discovered Gemini. But her anger, her absolute fury was even stronger than it had been all those years ago at Donoterase. And it was her fury that fueled the final downfall of the Boogeyman and Neusfaratu.

But in a way it was too late.

Standing behind her desk, Parker smiled at the four-year-old boy sleeping on the couch in her office and lightly pressed a hand to her lower abdomen. Yes, in a way she had been too late, but maybe, just maybe, she was really right on time.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N:I'm back! I apologize deeply for leaving all of you for the last month or so, but school was unfortunately my priority. Well, that and a bad case of writer's block. But school is out for the summer and I finally have the time to think about things other than history and archaeology and even more annoying topics like psychology and biology. Here is chapter 2, please remember that reviews not only make me smile, they make me write faster. Because we all know that happy writers (and muses) get chapters posted faster.

Chapter 2

Two years later, Parker struggled to hide a yawn as she walked back to her office. The last two years had not gone smoothly, and a lifetime of training regarding showing weakness was difficult to overcome. Not pausing or missing a beat as the Voice chattered away in her mind, providing a warning as to what awaited her behind her office doors; Parker smiled a greeting at her personal assistant. Anya Landmen had been with her for ages, an older woman with a wicked sense of humor and the valuable ability to keep her head down in the violent power struggles that were all to common at the Centre, Mrs. Landmen was also fiercely loyal to Parker and had guided her through most of her young adulthood.

Parker walked into her office confidently, never pausing or breaking her stride; she also managed to hide her smile at the scene before her.

Jarod and his family, all of them, including Ethan, stood in the large office. Only the Boy, Ethan, and Jarod appeared at ease, but as attuned to Jarod as she was, Parker could tell that he was faking it, trying to appear calm and collected for his family. The Boy was anxious as well, and was hiding it almost as well as Jarod.

When she walked in, the young man who reminded her so much of the boy Jarod had once been broke out a heart-stopping grin and rushed to give her a hug. Glad one of this party didn't want to lock her up, Parker returned the hug. Nevertheless, his similarity to Jarod and obvious joy at seeing her only underscored Jarod's lack of visible reaction to her.

Parker missed the flash of jealousy that darkened Jarod's mood. He was upset that his younger brother could display his affection for Parker and express that he had missed her, Jarod could not. There was too much painful history between himself and Parker for him to attempt to tell her again, how he felt.

Parker took his suddenly even darker mood for anger, but she was focused on the young man who was still holding her tight.

"It's very nice to see you again Miss Parker. When Jarod found out that the Triumvirate were holding Raines and Lyle….and then they just vanished…I…he….we…..were worried," the Boy stammered out, happy that Parker was safe.

"It's okay, I'm fine. Nothing bad happened to me, and their gone."

"Really?"

"Trust me kiddo, the Boogeyman and Uncle Fester are finally back were they belong," Parker smiled at him.

"Jarod watched surprised, interacting with the young adult, Parker seemed different….not softer, he could hear the sarcasm in her voice, but she seemed more content then she had been even before Tommy's death.

"What would you know about it?" Margaret's voice cut in. Her tone was sharp and harsh.

"I got the joy of watching while the Triumvirate had the heads of those two ghouls removed. A warning to me, as the last Parker standing." Parker's tone was cold; she matched Margaret's fiery anger with the icy coldness only the Centre's Ice Queen had ever truly wielded effectively.

Jarod knew he should be upset with Parker for speaking to his mother like that, but he found himself more upset with his mother than Parker. He had been trying so hard to fit into his family, to be who they wanted him to be, and right now all he wanted the normality of Parker's razor sharp wit matched against his own as they played their all-too painful game of cat and mouse. Or rather, cat and rat, in their case.

Before Jarod could speak up, his mother had noticed several models of various buildings that were set up in a corner of the room. One was of the Empire State Building.

"Remembering your family's glorious past? Did Jarod make these? Are these part of my son's stolen childhood?" Margaret's tone was even more accusatory than before.

Parker, already standing tall, seemed to draw herself up even more as she moved away from the youngest of the Russell family.

"These models, Mrs. Russell were made by _my _son. If Jarod would like the model of the Empire State Building he made once, I believe it is down in Sydney's office. I am sure he would part with it, if Jarod wanted it. Now, why don't you tell me why you are here? Before I have you escorted out of my building?"

"I received an email from Angelo; he said it was important that I come. They insisted on accompanying me," Jarod quickly interjected, he did not want his mother and Parker fighting, both were too important to him for him to want that.

"Angelo? I should have known he would contact you eventually. Still, did you _have_ to bring the whole tribe, LabRat?" Parker smirked, the humor in her eyes telling him that at least she was not upset with him, yet. "He's usually out in the gardens on nice days. I would try there," her tone was once of dismissal, and none missed it.

As his family left the spacious office, Jarod hung back. "It is good to see you again Parker."

"Yeah, we'll defiantly need to make this a yearly event. Provided I survive another year in this job."

"You will Parker; you've already done more to change this place than any of the previous Chairman…"

"Only because the previous Chairmen were competing to see who got to go to a deeper circle of Hell," she interrupted.

"True, but still, how you got the Triumvirate to go along with it…"

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions LabRat. Now get out, before your family thinks I'm abusing you or something."

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It wasn't until five minutes after Jarod had left that Parker remembered who else was usually in the gardens with Angelo this time of day.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:Thank you to all who have reviewed. I hope chapter 3 lives up to any expectations and maybe answers a few questions. If you have more questions or want more answers I am always willing to answer, so please send them. That said, please remember to review, it makes my muse that much happier, and the happier she is, the faster she lets me know what happens next.

Chapter 3

Jarod had been so concerned with ending the argument between Parker and his mother, and if he was honest with himself, to busy staring at Parker, she seemed to have become even more beautiful since he had last seen her on Carthis, that he had not been paying complete attention to her words. But her mention of a son and the plethora of model buildings in her office hit him like a hurricane force wind when he exited the main Centre building and entered the central gardens.

The large gardens were perfectly kept and filled with gorgeous blooms, exotic and native trees, streams, and fountains that Jarod's expert eye knew to be original Bernini. He didn't know, nor did he really want to know, how the Centre had acquired them. In truth, the beauty of the gardens was as sharp as his one memory of them. Once, long ago, Parker had snuck him out here; to share what she had said was her favorite place at the Centre. It had been a fun, magic-filled afternoon, as she had shown him a seemingly abandoned corner that was blocked from view by the surrounding oaks and maple trees. They had laughed and talked by the simple foundation that was in Parker's little garden, and she had told him a story about another girl with no mother who had a secret garden.

Unfortunately, reality had crept in and the Centre's sweepers, who apparently had been searching for him for hours, had discovered their little garden.

He hadn't seen her again for a week, and when he did, she was limping and trying to hide her bruises and the pain that wracked her young body. That had been the last time he'd seen her until they were both adults. Sydney had told him that she had been sent away to school. He never went back to that secret little garden again.

As Jarod gazed out at the Centre gardens for the second time in his life, he was struck by how similar and how different they appeared. Now children of all ages were scattered around the gardens as well as adults. Some of the adults were Centre employees enjoying a lunch break in the sun, others were former inmates and captives of the Centre enjoying the sunshine and fresh air they had long been denied.

He knew that the Centre was working to rehabilitate these people and that others were new patients. Under Parker, the Centre had quickly gained an amazing reputation and record as a rehabilitation center. The children, he knew had been rescued from abusive homes, either their own or foster homes; others were children who had been homeless and who had been given a home at the Centre until they could be adapted. In addition, there were others he knew, who were ill. Children like Faith, who at the Centre had a home and the medical treatment they needed.

He had known the things Parker was doing, had known the changes she was making, but now, seeing the people that the Centre was truly helping, he knew she had found her legacy. Had found something she could be proud to pass on to her son.

Her son.

He wondered briefly who the father was, and as his feet carried unerringly to where he knew Angelo would be. But he quickly shut down that line of thinking. He didn't want to know who had done what he'd failed to at, breaching the final layer of steel around her heart. He was jealous, at least analytically, he knew this of himself, of this man who occupied a role he'd been envisioning himself in for years.

So he told himself that he didn't want to know. That who the father of her son was didn't matter. He was a Pretender after all; surely he could convince himself of that.

So wrapped up in his memories and musings, he didn't notice, nor was he even paying attention to, his mother and sister as they prattled on about something. He wasn't sure what, but he was willing to bet it was about how evil the Parker family was and how Parker herself was obviously the heir to all her family's dark ways.

As he continued on to the secret garden where he knew Angelo would be, he wondered how his father could accept Sydney's important, instrumental role in his life and even accept Parker as more than his huntress, but his mother could not. It had occurred to him that it was hard to tell who she hated more, Sydney or Parker. Himself, his feelings about the arguably two most important, constant people in his life oscillated. Some days he hated them, others he loved and missed them terribly. But for some reason he was never willing to give up Sydney's patient guidance, he never wanted to forget that. Nor did he want to give up or forget his childhood friendship with Parker or their six-year relationship/game of cat and rat/

Finally, his feet arrived at the stand of trees that cut off the small-secluded section of the gardens. Ducking under a few low hanging branches, the last time he'd been here he hadn't had to duck he'd cleared the branches with several inches to spare, and entered the smaller garden that he would always think of as Parker's.

The scene that greeted him, and his astonished family, was surreal and yet so normal that Jarod couldn't help but feel that it was _right_ somehow. Angelo lay by the fountain, staring up into the sky and grinning with delight as the sunlight played in the water cascading into the fountain. Sydney sat against a tree, holding a little girl, not yet two, in his lap, as he read aloud, in French, from a book. And a little boy, about six, sat next to him, enthralled in the story Sydney was spinning.

What struck him though as he noticed the brown eyes and brown hair of the boy, _his_ eyes, _his_ hair; and the blue eyes and brown hair of the girl, _her_ eyes, _her_ hair; was that she had mentioned the son, but not the daughter.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:Here's chapter 4. I hope I answer some of your questions, and ask a few more. Either way there is some JMP in this chapter, so enjoy. Please remember to hit the purple button once you have finished, it makes my muse so much happier if you tell her what you thought.

Chapter 4

"My dear Lord! What has that woman done now!" Margaret exclaimed upon seeing the collection of people in the little garden.

Sydney and the children looked up at her, though Angelo remained exactly as he was.

"Get away from those children you monster!" Margaret spat at Sydney, the venom in her voice clear even to the little girl, who promptly burst into tears and began sobbing in French.

The little boy had a look of pure annoyance and the beginnings of anger on his face, the Russell family recognized the two looks as ones that J.J. (the Boy) sometimes wore. They had never seen such looks on Jarod's face before. Standing up, the little boy marched over to Margaret and crossing his arms over his small chest proclaimed angrily in French, "Only French is allowed in the garden, or with Grandpa Sydney. And you are never ever to make my baby sister upset."

Before Margaret could say anymore, Miss Parker arrived, not looking at all as if she had rushed. But those who knew her could tell that she had. Glaring at Margaret, who Parker had pegged as the reason the little girl was crying and the boy upset, she crossed to Sydney and effortlessly lifted the girl out of his arms. "Shh, little one. Everything is all right. No one is goin to take you away or hurt Grandpa Syd. Shhh," Parker cooed softly to the little girl in flawless Parisian accented French.

"Parker, are you all right," Sydney questioned quietly, so the children could not hear.

"Fine Syd, and I'll be even better when WonderBoy's mother stops making my daughter cry and my son angry," she answered, not quite snapping, but coming darn close.

"Mama, is you okay?" the little boy asked, still glaring at Margaret.

"It's 'are you okay' and yes Gabe, I'm fine," she replied her voice tired. The little girl stopped sobbing as the tears continued to roll down her chubby baby cheeks silently. Impulsively she threw her arms around Parker's neck and hugged her tightly, proclaiming loudly, "Heart Mama."

Parker's face broke out into the same soft smile that just a short time before J.J.'s hug had caused.

"Gabe, why don't you take your sister and see if you can find Matt and Sarah? They should be done with their session in a few minutes," Parker suggested to the little boy.

"M'k mama," the little boy replied, still fending off Margaret with his vintage Parker glare.

"There is a map on my desk, do you think the four of you can find where it goes?" Sydney prompted Gabe, as he had once prompted Jarod.

"A map? We'll find where it goes Grandpa! Come on Tessa!" Gabe tossed a smile to Parker and Sydney as the little girl scampered out of Parker's arms. Taking her by the hand, both children dashed out of the garden, but not before Gabe threw Margaret one last glare. None of those who had spent lifetimes running from men in dark suits missed the two men who followed silently after the children.

When Jarod opened his mouth to speak Parker shut him up by placing her hand over his mouth, as she watched to make sure the children were out of earshot. She hadn't even noticed Jarod closing distance on her while she had held Tessa, a fact that gravely concerned her.

Once she was certain the children were far enough away not to hear the yelling that was sure to occur, she removed her hand. And tried not to think about the electric shock that had seemed to move between them, or about his lips, or really anything about him that reminded her that he was human and very much a man.

"What the hell is going on here Parker? When exactly did you become a mother and why does that boy look…" Jarod growled in English, his voice dark and vaguely menacing and his eyes hard and unfeeling. His family was shocked to at his tone and at the dark look in his eyes. Only J.J. and to a degree, Ethan, understood, they had some concept of the complex, irrational, and perhaps not quite healthy relationship and history between Jarod and Parker.

"I found out that Raines had had Gabe created shortly after I got back from Carthis. It was around then that Raines had me impregnated. Science is such a wonderful thing, isn't it WonderBoy?" she spat back, not moving out of his personal space and not removing him from hers.

"The little boy….Raines used Bridgette as the surrogate, didn't he?"

"Well apparently that brain of your still works. At least enough to see the OBVIOUS. And his name is Gabe. Gabriel Michael Parker."

"Who's the father? Parker who is the father?"

"Isn't it obvious, Rat? Well maybe that genius brain of your isn't all its cracked up to be. Good thing the Centre hasn't been searching for you for the last two years. We did only want you for your mind you know. The rest of you isn't half as valuable."

"Like hell. If that's the case why the cloning program that Raines ran? Why does Gabe exist at all? And what about the girl, hmmm?" The already limited gap of space between then was closing fast. Even though they were practically standing on top of one another, neither would ever admit to noticing. But both were intensely aware of how close their bodies were, and of how hot the mid-June sun was.

Smiling softly to himself, Sydney moved over to the fountain and sat near Angelo, who still hadn't appeared to notice anything.

"If you think for one second that I had any knowledge of what Nosferatu was doing, that I participated in his twisted little experiments willingly, then you are more delusional than I thought. Good thing you came then, a few sessions with Freud here might help."

"What You can't possibly! That monster is to stay away from my son!" Margaret exclaimed.

"Will you be quiet? If WonderBoy wants to be around Syd then he can. He is an adult, at last he was last time I checked," Parker shot a glare at Margaret that made the old woman shrink back. Margaret Russell had no idea who she was messing with.

"Don't speak to her that way Parker," Jarod turned his inner turmoil over his mother's attitude, his inability to connect with her, and his annoyance at her overbearing mothering onto Parker. But just as he had not shrunk back from the intensity of her ire, Parker barely batted an eye at his. All their lives the only person they had in their at times all too lonely lives they weren't afraid of, was each other. And neither was about to start now.

"I don't get it," Emily interjected, "So what if this woman has children? What does it have to do with you J?"

"Checking back his intense displeasure at her nickname for him, he tolerated that one only from Argyle.

"It matters Emily, because I'm the father of Gabe. Most likely the girl as well."

"Her name is Tessa. Theresa Catherine Parker. And yes. Not that either of us actually knew about or participated in the conceiving of either. Science just takes out all the fun parts, doesn't it?" Parker snapped, she was tired, overworked, extremely overstressed, and she knew Sydney was going to give her grief over her stress levels once they got home. The old man knew better than to undercut her authority, especially where Jarod and the children were concerned.

"What I really want to know Parker, is why the hell didn't you tell me? I had the right to know!"

"Forwarding address, phone number, ever hear of them? Apparently not. Either way, you spent six damn years proving that you knew more about my life than I did! How was I to know that you didn't know and just chose to stay away?"

"You know me better than that Parker. You know I would never abandon my own children or chose to live without them in my life however they were brought into the world!"

"You seemed busy enough making a new life for your self with that redheaded chit. Which, by the way, I only knew about because Lyle had mentioned your little girlfriend and Broots and Syd showed me the wedding announcements they received. I had enough problems at the time without having to track you down."

"You can't possibly convince me that Zoë was the only reason you didn't bother doing what you should have done. After all, I wasn't with Zoë when we were on that island. I went back to her because at least she was willing to have feelings and admit to them."

"So the lack of wedding ring signifies what? At least I can commit to people."

"Like hell you can."

"Cute. I am committed to my children and to the Centre. And right now, I want you and you family to do the one thing you have always wanted. Leave here and never come back."

As she began to stalk passed him, he grabbed her arm. The electricity that flowed between them was such a shock to both that Jarod nearly let go. But he wasn't a Pretender for nothing, he simply pretended that he felt nothing. "They are my children too. I have a right to be in their lives."

"Yeah well, nobody ever said life was fair. Take what you can get and move on." She wrenched her arm out of his strong grasp and with her head held high stalked out of the garden. All while trying not to think about how strong, and possible safe, his arms were.

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"Well that could have gone better," Sydney said standing up slowly. His age seemed to have crept up on him over the last few years.

"The only way it could have gone better Sydney, is if a nuclear bomb had exploded," Jarod sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face. He tried not to think about what it had felt like when her slender fingers had rested on his lips.

"Both of you had valid points. Although it could have gone better if at least one of you had kept control of your temper."

"We rarely manage to stay in control around each other. Sydney you know that."

"Nowadays true. While she was chasing and you were running, true sometimes. But once, the two of you knew how to communicate, and without the fireworks either."

"That was a long time ago Sydney, those days are over."

"Once, not so long ago, you didn't think so. Though you never did seem to consider that not all choices about her life were hers to make. Parker was just as much a pawn as you. She has come into her own now. And a more worthy pawn to become a queen I do not know."

"You know nothing. All you are is a monster, a vile creature. And if she is a queen than she's a queen of the night!" Margaret unleashed her anger at Sydney.

Standing tall, Sydney smile that vague half-smile of his, "Mrs. Russell, you will forgive me if you in no way frighten me at all. I do not ask your forgiveness nor do I expect it. Please know, however, I consider myself to have four sons: Jarod, Nicholas, Broots, and Angelo. And my grandson is right, never make Tessa cry again. Ever," With that, Sydney also left the garden, head also held high.

As soon as Sydney left, Angelo jumped up from his prone position on the soft grass.

"Friend help. Daughter hurt. Heart sick. Cares. Wants Friend help. Big House," with that Angelo dashed away, leaving Jarod more confused than before.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N:Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. Between starting my new job and my sister's graduation and grad party, well time was short. Still, here it is, and as always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks to all who have previously reviewed, and I hope you review again.

Chapter 5

Evening was beginning to fall over Blue Core, as Jarod silently drove. J.J. sat in the passenger seat and didn't make a single sound. Sometimes the younger man wondered if his empathy with Jarod, quite often he was the only one in the family who understood the older Pretender, was caused by the fact that he was Jarod's clone or if it was caused by his skills and status as a Pretender. J.J. thought it was more likely from the Pretender skills, because he certainly didn't react the same way to Parker as Jarod did nor did he react the same way about the news about the kids. Still, like Jarod, he did like Parker, although he thought Jarod was way beyond the 'like' stage. He had also never liked Zoë, although at the time he thought it was because the tough, independent, and still fiercely tender Parker had been his first glimpse of the female sex. He had found Zoë too chatty, too flakey, and far too much a damsel in distress (he wasn't sure she could do anything for herself) to have been a real companion and partner to his older brother or was it father figure? He certainly listened to Jarod far more than the Major. And the similarities in their lives gave Jarod an understanding of him that the Major didn't have. Either way, when he thought of his father it was Jarod he visualized and not just because of the technicalities of his creation and birth.

If he considered Jarod his real father than it had never been Zoë he considered his mother. Nor was it Margaret, who understood him less than the Major did. Instead it was Parker he thought of as his mother. From the moment she had met him se had cared deeply about him. She'd wanted him to have a better childhood than she'd had. And J.J. was convinced that she'd had far more to do with his escape than anyone least of all Jarod or the Centre under Raines and Mr. Parker ever dared to consider. It had also been Parker who had shown him what sacrifice was. Especially for a parent. J.J. understood that Mr. Parker had probably never cared about his daughter at all. And he knew Parker had known that, even then at least that's what he believed.

Still he'd seen her take a bullet for a man who had done nothing but lie to her for her entire life, a man who had sanctioned the murder of a man she loved, and if Jarod's half sentences and brooding silences (and words shouted out in nightmares) were to be believed Mr. Parker had also done much worse to his daughter. And yet she still had done something for the man's wife wouldn't ever consider doing.

Of course that day Jarod had also shown him what sacrifice and love was. But J.J. didn't think Jarod would see it quite the way he did.

But then that was fairly normal for them.

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When Charles realized that none of the boys were in the hotel and that Jarod's car was missing he knew where they had gone. And to be honest, he was perfectly fine with it. Jarod and Miss. Parker needed to talk without arguing, although he didn't know how likely that was. He really didn't know either one that well. Try as he might, his eldest son was secretive and rarely opened up to him or even to anyone besides J.J. and Ethan. Oh, Jarod would appear to be open but he never mentioned the Centre. The place had dominated his childhood and the vast majority of his adult life and he never mentioned it. The old combat veteran tat the Major was understood this, he didn't talk about the War after all, but he also knew that it could destroy relationships he'd seen it happen.

The Major even understood Jarod's exasperation with his mother. Years on her own and the search for not only her sons but also for a set of scrolls had changed her. Oh, she'd always had a temper, but she had once been soft-spoken and kind. He could remember times when only the differences in their hair color and maiden names had been the only way to know that Margaret and Catherine Parker Nee Jamison were not in fact sisters.

But time, change, terror and the Centre had changed all that. It had irreversibly changed his family. He was reasonably certain, as certain as he ever was that his family was actually made up of two distinct families merged together. And not merged all that well either. Perhaps, he thought, a better analogy was two puzzle pieces that almost went together, but not quite, and were jammed together anyway. He, Margaret, and Emily functioned well together; they were one family unit of the two. Jarod, Ethan, and J.J. were the other. All three were tied to the Centre or at least a Centre project. None of the boys were really understood by Margaret or Emily though Emily certainly tried with Ethan. Margaret, however didn't try much with Ethan, had a habit of treating J.J. as an extension of Jarod and with her eldest Charles had noted Margaret had a habit of forgetting that he was an adult and capable of making his own choices. For a while, though she had accepted it, but then it had gone back to it had been about six months before. And had gotten worse. While Charles could accept that Jarod had not been raised with Margaret's belief system, it seemed she could not.

Charles took a look at the hotel room cleared all of Jarod, J.J. and Ethan's belongings. He did know where they were going but he knew to whom they were going. And he had a feeling that the boys' puzzle piece would fit perfectly.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N:Thanks to all who have reviewed. You defiantly made my muse smile and get to work. I am sorry that this chapter is not as long as I wanted it to be, but muse demanded that I end it where I did. Hope you like it anyway. Y'all know the drill, read, review, and a general reminder, I don't mind flames, but please make them well written, I use them for dart practice.

Chapter 6

When the doorbell rang, she knew who it was. Really it could only be one person. Sighing at the sight of her constantly trailing duckling she went to the door. Standing in the doorway she found she was only partially right to be exact she was only one third right. Glaring at the men she made her displeasure unknown. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Debbie, we've never properly met, but my name is …"

"Jarod, and you're going to claim to be a friend of either Mom or Dad. Which is technically a lie since friends don't abandon each other."

"You call Miss. Parker 'mom'?" Jarod asked as he, J.J., and Ethan stepped inside.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" she replied in a tone that was more than reminiscent of Parker.

"Who are these gentlemen Debbie?" the tall man with the physique of a professional linebacker asked.

"Oh, sorry Mike. This is Jarod, his clone/little brother or what is politically correct these days, and also the brother that Mom and Jarod share," she explained, pointing to each in turn.

"All right Gentlemen, please assume the position," Mike commented, his tone flat and professional.

"What?" Ethan asked, not quite sure what he was being asked to do.

"Face the wall, put your hands on the wall, and spread your legs," came the reply."

"Can I ask why?" J.J. asked, after tearing his eyes off Debbie.

"I'm part of the security team here. You will do either as asked or you will be escorted off the property."

"Guys just do it," Jarod quietly instructed his brothers.

After briefly frisking each, Mike allowed Debbie to take the three deeper into the house. As they walked through the hallways where works of art hung next to pictures of the children as well as Sidney, Broots, Angelo, Debbie, and two other young children all three men couldn't help but notice how unlike Parker the house was. They noticed her presence everywhere, and Jarod was overwhelmed by the permutation of her scent all over the house but many things about the house seemed unlike Parker. They were too stiff, too formal all together too much like her father.

When Debbie entered a living room/study they were amazed at the difference. Everything about the room was Parker.

"You can stay in here. I'll get Mom, but she's a bit busy right now."

"Will she be busy long? We never really got the chance to talk today," Ethan eagerly inquired.

"Well we're in the middle of bath time right now, so she may be a while."

"Bath time?" J.J. asked slightly confused.

"A time at night when you con/force little children into getting clean. Usually comes shortly before bedtime," Debbie explained, "most likely even _you_ had a bath time."

"How long does this last? With only two children…" J.J. continued.

"Four children."

"Four!" Jarod choked out.

"Don't worry, two are fosters. They would normally be in the children's wing, but with all the trauma the sheer fact that they made friends with Gabe and trust Mom, Dad, and Grandpa Sydney is a minor miracle. So they live here." Came Debbie's curt answer as she made a slow circuit around the room and pulled the thick drapes shut.

"So my sister likes kids?" Ethan asked, eager for any information about his mysterious sister.

"Sure she likes kids. She positively adores Gabe and Tessa, those two are her life. And she adores Matt and Sarah too. Grandpa says she understands what they went through and how important a new home is….she never talks about it though. I think it has to do with why she won't go into some rooms in this house, not that we use all the rooms anyway. Why Mr. P needed or ever wanted this place is beyond me, we're only here 'cause Mom's place is way too small."

"What about _your_ relationship with Parker?" Jarod probed.

"Not that it's really your business, but we're good. Mom and I have a cool relationship."

Before anyone could ask any more questions, Parker stepped into the room, followed closely by Mike. She had literally taken Jarod's breath away earlier at the Centre in her customary suit, even if the shirt had been a tad longer than he remembered. But now in a pair of cut-off jean shorts that fully earned the title Daisy Dukes, and a double tank top, the best Pretender found himself unable to breathe. The causal summer clothing made her seem more real and less like the tempestuous untouchable goddess he had been worshipping since he was a child.

"Joe says there are three suitcases out in the car you left out front. Do I want to know why it appears the three of you are running away, and why you seem to be running here?" she asked staring directly at Jarod.

"Pretty good security. Much better than Mr. Parker ever had around here," he avoided the question, staring back.

"Not through enough apparently. Next time you drop by I'll make sure they know that a strip search is needed, special for you," her tone was icy, she obviously wasn't in the mood to deal with any BS from anyone.

"Now, now Parker, I had a reason for having that done to you."

"You just wanted to make me mad. You had gotten away and you knew it. There was not reason for that, other than the fact that the Nevada sun obviously burned away most of your brain."

"I don't think I want to know, how about you Ethan?" J.J. muttered under his breath.

"It's been eight years Parker. That's a long time to hold a grudge," Jarod tried, using his 'I'm innocent' face and voice.

"Well we all have to have a talent PezHead."

" Yes we do, and I know for a fact yours is _not_ holding a grudge?"

"Really? And how do you know exactly what my talent is? Your famed stalking skills?"

"I am not a stalker. You know that."

"Oh, so because in _your_ mind your intention was good, we have to ignore the technique you use? Face it LabRat, you are a stalker. And it's just my luck…."

"Just your luck what?" he goaded.

"That two of the best things in my life have half of your DNA."

"Well it seems you've done everything possible to make them into perfect little Parkers, that display from Gabe this afternoon was like watching you at your iciest."

"Parker! Jarod! What is goin on here?" Sydney strode purposefully into the room and both former Centre pawns instantly looked up. And looked guilty.

"Well? What were the two of you arguing about? And didn't either of you learn about invading another person's personal space?" Sydney reprimanded.

Both Parker and Jarod glanced sheepishly at each other and took two steps away from the other. Both had been secretly enjoying their physical closeness. And in both their minds, if they had to fight to stand that close to each other then well, fighting was what they did best.

"Well? What was going on?" Sydney repeated, suddenly feeling as if he had somehow been transported back in time thirty years.

"I have to go Syd, it's about bedtime and you know how they get," Parker said.

"Yes, they do take some time to wind down don't they? How about I stay down here with Debbie and these two," he waved a hand in the direction of J.J. and Ethan, "Jarod can help you with the little ones."

"Sydney since when do I need help with my children?" Parker attempted to not snap, but she didn't do a very good job. She was irritated and all could tell.

"Since your blood pressure spiked three times today. You remember…."

"Yes I know Sydney. I was there too remember? Well come on PezHead. Munchkin roundup waits for no one." With that she turned easily on her heel and left the room with Jarod.

"Sir, is Miss Parker sick?" J.J. asked politely, both he and Ethan suddenly worried about her.

Sydney and Debbie glanced at each other and hesitated.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Neither Jarod nor Parker spoke as they climbed the stairs and walked to the small group of rooms used by the oddball Centre family.

Although they were silent, neither felt the need to clutter the air with words. They had never needed words to communicate and often over the last decade or so the words that they did use were harsh and bitter.

Their silence though had always spoken volumes. And were never harsh or bitter. It was in this silence that they found their common ground. The past had happened, nothing could change that, truthfully neither would have been willing to change the past, for fear that the lonely lost children they had been would not have met. Both knew that they had to put the past behind them, the two small innocent souls who were their children demanded it.

With this silent understanding, they entered the children's domain.

It seemed to Jarod that chaos ruled this small area of the Parker Estate. Toys coated the floor and three children and Angelo engaged in a game of what appeared to be a bizarre mix of tag and chase, while the fourth and smallest child sat playing with a stuffed monkey. Two large dogs and a haggard looking Broots watched over the display.

"Miss Parker! I-I thought you were downstairs with Sydney and Debbie," the tech stammered out.

"Someone had to rescue Ethan and J.J. from Debbie's tongue. Don't worry Broots, hearts heal, especially young ones," Parker answered calmly, surveying the small hoodlums who had redefined her life.

""Well, yes, I know that, but it was her first love and all. And she's so young anyway…."

"She's 16 and smart for her age. She'll survive, one way or another we all survive our first heartbreak. Now out. Obviously enforcing bedtime is not your forte."

"Well Debbie never protested as much as these four," Broots protested, knowing that she wasn't really knocking his skills as a parent, especially a single parent. Parker had often consulted him in the beginning and even after finding her "legs" as a parent continued to ask advice, though it was rare. No matter what else changed she was still in many was the indomitable boss that he loved, respected, and feared. Although the children had softened her sharp edges, at least outside of work.

With a rueful smile at Jarod, for whom Broots still felt a great deal of hero-worship and admiration, after all, few men in the world could capture Miss Parker's attention and even fewer could hold it, Broots had to admire any man who had held her attention for so long, he slipped out of the room. Secretly, he was glad that Jarod had come, if anything could help Miss Parker it was the Pretender.

JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP

"What exactly do you mean? That my sister is…." Ethan could barely believe it. The Voices had told him nothing of this, but then only one of the Voices was the True Voice and he had a hard time hearing, or rather that particular Voice, his mother's tended to get lost amidst all the other Voices.

"Yes, I am afraid so," Sydney smiled wanly, for all the precautions taken and despite the fact that Parker now took her own safety and health seriously, or at least slightly more seriously, the fact of the betrayal remained. And as much a part of their lives as it had become, no member of Parker's "family" liked to remember or even think of it, still it remained constantly on their minds.

"I can only assume that this was why Angelo contacted Jarod," Sydney continued, "it is know to family members and in her will that id something, anything really, should happen to her, that Jarod was to receive custody of and oddly enough, control of all her assets, including control of the Centre until Gabe turns 21 and can receive his share of the Parker legacy."

"She doesn't say a word to him ever about the kids, never contacts him about anything, but she puts it in her will that not only does she trust him with her children but also with their trust funds? And with the operation of the Centre? This doesn't strike you as odd?" J.J. asked, trying to fathom her reasoning, her logic, and he was finding none.

"She had always been far more complicated and complex than people, even Jarod, ever gave her credit for. Why she made these decisions I don't know, perhaps it was a final grasp at keeping Jarod in her life, especially at a point when he was pulling away. For so long those two only ever trusted each other, maybe it was being apart that reminded them of that trust."

"I barley know my sister, and now your saying I may never get the chance?" Ethan asked, panicked.

"There is a chance, yes, but…" Sydney began.

"Mom takes good care of herself. She eats right, exercises, tries to reduce her stress levels….she does all she can. Even the Pretenders who chose to stay help out. They are constantly looking for Alex. Once that last threat to Gabe and Tessa is eliminated I know her stress levels will get even better," Debbie said hopefully.

"What about the Triumvirate? Aren't they a threat to the kids?" J.J. asked his mind racing with data and theories, and millions of possibilities.

"Miss Parker says they aren't a threat. Which is weird, you know, but she does seem to know what she's talking about, and no one from the Triumvirate, not even lackeys, come and bug her. Maybe they finally got the message that she doesn't like to be annoyed," Broots offered as he walked into the room.

"Are they upstairs with the children?" Sydney asked.

"Oh yeah. And not arguing either. Actually, they weren't really talking to each other, but it wasn't like they were mad at each other, you know? They just weren't talking."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Outside the house, a slow smile spread across the face of a man who was more devil than a son of Adam.

He had always been considered second best and had spent years plotting and planning his debut. Soon they would all know the truth, the _he_ was far superior to that emotional do-gooder they all considered to be the best of the Pretenders. He would show the Triumvirate that he was the true prize and would be able to take his rightful place in the world.

The only good thing about their annoying childish preoccupation with Jarod and those ridiculous scrolls was that he had been able to move around the world without a care. They'd not even attempted to track him, after all, Jarod was the crown jewel in the Centre's bauble collection, not him.

He would show them their error though.

And he would help those poor poor children. To be saddled with Jarod as a biological father was to hi mind an insult to what those two dear children could be. The only good choice Raines had made was in selecting the mother.

Oh yes, her skills, so often maligned as his were, truly were superior to others who were trained to do the same things she was. She too had been considered second best to a brother who not only failed repeatedly, but also failed to learn from his mistakes.

They would realize it very shortly, when he took his rightful place.

Glancing at the monitor in front of him, he chuckled, yes he was the last true threat, at least _they _had never forgotten him.

He would make sure they never would.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Parker watched as Jarod observed the controlled chaos in the children's rooms. Jarod of course knew she was watching him, he always knew, although that might have imply been because it happened so rarely. But then again he also couldn't say that he minded, in fact he actually liked her watching him, which was major for him, since he absolutely hated to be watched.

Grinning at the antics of the kids, who seemed to have made up a game and were playing with Angelo, except for the littlest girl, Tessa, who sat in a huge chair, curled up among the pillows, talking quietly to a very small stuffed brown monkey.

All four children and Angelo seemed to be truly happy, which Jarod was both happy and unhappy about. Happy because children were supposed to be happy and how could he wish these children any different, especially since he'd known for years that if he had children (and as much as he had always wanted a family of his own, he'd always been concerned for the safety of those theoretical children, the Centre had been to him a monolithic threat in his mind) that he'd do his best to make sure they had the happiest possible childhoods. But he found himself unhappy at his actual children's obvious happiness.

He was slightly startled when Parker placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered in hi ear, "Just because they are relatively happy doesn't mean that they don't need or want you in their lives."

Jarod closed his eyes, in an attempt to get his heart rate under control. Her nearness was intoxicating and yet despite the fact that he had left his family and come here, to her and to these children, he didn't want her to know the affect she had on him. Control was a must in the twisted game they had been playing for years, and Jarod was as unwilling to give up what little control he had as she was.

Stepping slightly away, Parker placed her thumb and pinkie finger of her left hand in her mouth and whistled. The loud piercing whistle brought the game to a halt as the kids turned and finally noticed the two adults.

"All right munchkins, bedtime," Parker said, her voice once again the kinder softer tone that came out when the children were with her.

"Do we have to go to bed?" Gabe asked, not quite whining, but almost having that particular tone.

"Yup, you have too," Parker smiled at the little boy.

It was then that Gabe noticed Jarod, "What is _he_ doing here?" Gabe asked instantly changing his posture as he moved to try to stand between his mother and Jarod.

It was then that Tessa glanced up at the adults. Jarod found himself watching her entranced as she cocked her head to the side and seemed to stare off into space. Then after sitting perfectly still like that for a moment, she jumped out of the oversized chair and with the monkey still in hand, tottered over to the two adults and Gabe.

"Is Daddy. Gabe, is Daddy!" Her excitement and joy were obvious, the grin on her face matched the one Jarod now wore, as he knelt down and scooped up the little girl who had run as fast as her small unsteady legs could carry her.

"No it's not!" Gabe said, glaring at the man holding his baby sister, "Look different from the picture Mamma gave us."

"Is him! Is him! Gamma says so!" Tessa cried, clinging tightly to Jarod.

":Shh, Tessa," Parker said softly, "Grandma is right. The Voice doesn't lie. And you know that Gabe," she said turning her attention to the boy. "You know the Voice doesn't lie so why would you say it was?"

"Cause he can't be Daddy. The mean lady was with him. Can't be Daddy," the little boy sobbed, trying very hard not to cry.

"Parker glanced at the other two children in the playroom. The twins Matt and Sarah were the same age as Gabe and were wards of the Centre, for all that they actually lived with Parker and her family. Knowing that Gabe wouldn't want to cry in front of his two best friends, Parker quickly sent them to their room to finish getting ready for bed, promising them she would be there shortly to tuck them in.

Jarod upon hearing this grinned at her and was about to make a comment on how motherhood had changed her when she glared at him and said dryly, "Not a word Pez-head. Not a word."

Chuckling quietly he thought to himself that Parker hadn't changed _that_ much. Shifting Tessa over a bit he knelt next to Parker in front of an angry and sobbing Gabe.

"Why don't you believe what your sister said, sweetie?" Parker asked.

"Doesn't look like picture! And was with mean lady! 'Spose to be nice an help people! That why you said wasn't here with us!" Gabe sobbed, letting the tears begin to fall as his anger and confusion grew.

Parker pulled him into her arms and held him close, much like she had when he was a baby. "People change physically Gabe, you know that. You and your sister get bigger all the time and old pictures of you don't usually look like you now. That picture I gave you was taken in 1996, that's 10 years ago, before you were even born. And while he definitely needs a haircut, I don't think he's changed all that much, but then I'm more used to him."

"But he was with the mean lady!" Gabe's sobs continued.

"She was only mean because she was scared. When people are scared sometimes they say or do things that don't always make sense," Jarod explained, trying to understand his mother's actions as well.

"Why scared? Gampa and Angelo not scary."

"Well," Parker began slowly, glancing at Jarod as if for support, "she has her reasons to not trust Sydney, and her reasons are valid, but she doesn't know him like we do…"

"Who is mean lady?" Gabe asked suddenly, his tears drying up.

"Yeah, Manny-Hammy an me wants ta know too!" Tessa said, still clinging to Jarod and her monkey as if her life depended on it.

"Her name is Margaret Russell. And she is his mother," Parker explained, pointing to Jarod.

"So she's another Gamma?" Gabe asked incredulously.

"Yes she is," Parker smiled at Gabe reassuringly.

"So the lady you was with in the garden was Gamma, and you're Daddy," Gabe began slowly, still not moving out of his mother's arms, "is you staying? Or is you gonna leave?" he asked, staring up at Jarod with his big brown eyes.

Parker nearly laughed out loud, Gabe's face was almost exactly like Jarod's "little lost boy" face, but she didn't laugh. She knew that Gabe was very serious about that question, and wanted very much to hear the answer. Frankly, she also wanted to hear the answer, and would have asked the question herself, if she had thought he would take her seriously.

Tessa curled further into Jarod's arms, as if by being as close as she could physically she could convince him not to leave. "Manny-Hammy no want you ta go. We wants you ta stay here with us," the little girl declared boldly.

Jarod smiled at the small bundle in his arms, she seemed to fit perfectly there, as if the spot or the small girl herself, had been carved out of him and his heart long ago and he just didn't remember it. He was positive there was a spot in his arms and heart that Gabe fit perfectly into as well, and even if he privately hoped the same for Parker, his heart was still too scarred from Zoë for him to let any adult female in, at least for the near future. Although his battered, bruised, and very cracked heart (as well as his traitorous body) bluntly informed his rationalizing brain that Parker had been let in long before Zoë and was in fact still there.

"Well," he drawled out, "I guess I have only one choice then."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Alex's grin broadened, everything was coming together perfectly. Soon, very soon, the world would be changed, forever, and it would at long last conform to his liking.

A few minor touches, polishing really, a few last nudges on the right people at the correct times and then….He could almost feel the new power, the power and the Centre and their shadowy controllers, coursing through him. He was the best when it came to taking something, or someone, in order to gain a bargaining chip. Jarod's stunt to rescue the Major was good, but the emotion-ruled Pretender hadn't controlled everything in the final outcome. After all, _she_ had been injured, almost killed, and the smarmy addle-brained Pretender had been captured. Though Alex could appreciate staying to her, she was the ultimate prize after all. The Centre had done a much better job at caging and controlling her, though like the wild cat she was she had fought those bonds and had escaped. Unlike the so-called greatest Pretender, she had won.

"Tomorrow afternoon, when they are alone in the garden with the old man and the savant. The sweepers don't go into the garden with them so they'll be vulnerable then. Make sure they are not hurt. Not a hair on their heads do you understand? They are far more valuable than you ever will be." His words were clipped and accented, these men would not survive long after they had preformed their duties, but should _they_ reach them first, all the doomed insects he had contracted would be able to tell them was that there had been a voice. An erudite, upper-crust European voice that sounded British, but with a Continental cadence. But all that they would learn from the tapes he had made sure the insects had made of his voice. They really didn't know anything. And the soon to be bereaved parents wouldn't know anything either.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N:Wow, it's been a while since I've updated. My only reason/excuse is rl has been kicking me in the rear for the last 2 months or so. I'm not totally happy with this chapter, but I hope you like it. Please remember to review, they really do make my day.

Chapter 11

When Parker woke up the next morning she knew something was off. That something was not quite as it should be. But she dismissed it, chalking it up to the three Russell men living in her house now, and if she were being honest with herself, the fact that Jarod was living, sleeping, in her house, even if it still felt more like her father's house. Just knowing he was there, in her home, down the hall from her bedroom was driving her crazy.

But then crazy was actually fairly normal for her, and after years of dealing with late night phone calls and even worse, protracted silences, from her own personal, if also self-appointed conscious, Pretender.

Even as the last vestiges of sleep wore off she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong/ And that worried her. Feelings of dread, of wrongness, of fear, of panic, were common to her, especially if she had just awoken. For her dreams were when she was most open to the most powerful part of her gift premonition. Still years of living, working, and simply existing in the Centre meant that she had nightmares and often it was the nightmares she remembered, not any premonitions that came in her dreams.

JMP

As the morning, dawned Jarod tossed and turned in the bed that Parker had given him. He had never needed much sleep, which was good, since he'd been plagued by horrific nightmares since he was a child.

Even worse, he was very "active," even when asleep. Or at least that was how Zoë had attempted to put it nicely. In reality he thrashed, tossed, turned, he even kicked, or as he has joked about it to Zoë, he ran even in his sleep.

Part of him wondered if this was part of the reason Zoë had left. If maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was a horrible person to simply share a bed with, although she had only ever complain about the actual sleeping part.

Still he knew that his inability to sleep peacefully was linked to the darkness of his past and his psyche. Things he had not shared much of with Zoë before they had married, so he fully accepted the responsibility for the failure of the union, even if Zoë had made mistakes, some of them unforgivable , of her own,

Sighing and finally giving up on the pretense of sleep, Jarod got up and grabbed a black button up shirt and tossed it on along with an old pair of faded jeans. Not bothering with socks or shoes and not bothering with the shirt beyond rolling up the sleeves past his elbows, he silently slipped out of the second floor room Parker had assigned him. Mentally pulling up the layout he had memorized when he had broken into the house the first time, Jarod padded more silently than a mouse to the kitchen.

If anything, he figured, he could make breakfast for the mass of people who inhabited the house. The lack of people awake at the hour, which his internal clock told him was roughly 5:00 am, would allow him to check out the security. He hadn't been lying when he had told Parker the night before that her security was impressive, and that it was much better than her father's had been, but these were his children living in this house, and to say that he was already paranoid about their safety was an understatement. He didn't doubt that she was just as paranoid about safety, but he figured, and hoped, that she would understand that he had to check her security measures for himself.

Moving through the house with the silence and grace of the best professional cat burglar, he noted the security personal in the house and that outside the individual rooms of each family member, including the small suites that Broots and his daughter shared and that Sydney had, there were security personal posted. Than man who had been shadowing Debbie the night before stood outside the Broots' suite and gave Jarod a barely perceptible nod. The man, Mike, Jarod thought his name was, was checking in with another guard outside the suite. Deciding to give his own "shadow," a tall skinny redheaded man with what at first glance appeared to be thousands of freckles dotting his face (Jarod estimated that he really had 1, 329 though), a break, Jarod finally headed for the kitchen.

JMP

Parker tossed and turned in an uneasy dozing-sleep state. After her initial wake up, she had tried to fall back into the land of dreams for a few hours, as her doctors and annoyingly overprotective family not only suggested she do, but insisted upon.

The only problem was that anymore she only got three to four hours of sleep a night. Part of the blame for that, however, came from the fact that Tessa had been a fussy baby, but only t night. The sweet little girl had been an angel during the day, but at night she had been unable to sleep for more than an hour without someone, preferably her mother, holding her. Even now, while she should sleep through the night, it rarely occurred. Parker didn't mind too much though, being awoken at odd hours to comfort her littlest sweetheart whose dreams were too realistic and too vivid for her to handle on her own.

It was a fact Parker understood all to well. She remembered, though dimly, a time when she herself had been unable to sleep all through the night, every night. It had been a simple fact, one her own father had not approved of at all. He had liked it less when the problem persisted into her grade school years. The man had trued everything o get rid of the apparent "defect" in his Angel. Dance lessons, piano lessons, figure skating lessons, etiquette and deportment lessons, instating to her teachers that extra work be assigned to her, he'd even forces her into gymnastics lessons, all in the hope that by the time she was sent to her room at night she would sleep through the night without waking up. Or better yet, not wake up screaming.

Sighing and giving up on the illusion of sleep, Parker sat up. She rarely woke up screaming (well not too often) but she was back to the same sleep pattern of her early childhood; of her childhood before Jarod.

As she had gotten older there were other nightmares to keep her from sleeping and other nightmares to cause her to wake up screaming. As much as she hated to leave Jarod, her one true friend (other than Angelo of course) boarding school had been the best thing in the world for her. It had saved her. Well that and the fact that Daddy had totally ignored her and had most likely forgotten about her.

Giving up all pretext of sleep, Parker slipped out of the large bed. It was hauntingly lonely far too often and Parker never minded when any of the four young children crawled into bed with her. It gave her something to concentrate on in the long hours of not sleeping and frankly, she liked looking after her children (in which she included Matt, Sarah, and Debbie, and too a degree, J.J.). She would never admit to it, if only because the scars and terrors of the Centre were still too fresh and raw in her mind. The Ice Queen persona that she had hones could not simply be switched off, but she used it far less, after all things were significantly safer, even if Alex was still out there.

Shrugging on the robe that matched the lilac silk pajamas she was wearing, Parker grabbed the radio that connected her to the kids, and especially to Tessa, should the little girl wake up and come looking for her, and went in search of a cup of coffee that she was not supposed to have. It hadn't been this hard to give up coffee when she was pregnant with Tessa, the problem most likely came from the fact that the coffee ban was now permanent.

Just one more thing to blame her infuriating Pretender for.

As she padded quietly to the kitchen with her nightshift guard in tow, she refused to analyze why she thought of Jarod as hers.

After all, what was the point of analyzing the one universal truth of her life? Especially since it was the only one she had never doubted and the only one he had (well almost never) given her cause to doubt.

JMP

Jarod's shadow had not said anything, despite Jarod's attempts to engage him in conversation after reaching the large kitchen. Like every room in the expansive mansion, the kitchen was larger than technically needed, even by the far larger number of people who now lived in the house. Normally Jarod did not mind silence, it allowed him to work through all the problems, thoughts, theories, impressions, evaluations, and conclusions that were constantly flitting around in this brain. But right now, he had limited information about just about everything that went on in this house. And besides if you want to know about the security of a place, especially one with upwards of 20 guards on duty at all times, the best way was to talk to the guards.

With the coffee percolating, Jarod decided to try again, when he noticed that his shadow was missing.

Looking around he saw why.

Parker was standing in the doorway, and Jarod swore his heart stopped. She was a vision of beauty and no one could possibly match the way she wore the shimmering fabric, silk he thought the pretend he'd done as a fashion designer allowing him to identify the fabric, its perfect cut, and gave him a slightly more legitimate reason to adore her perfect regal posture.

Using every relaxation technique he knew, Jarod attempted to calm his heart rate down, there was no woman in the world who could affect him like this simply by walking into a room. Not even Zoë had that power over him, and idly he wondered if that was one of the reasons it hadn't worked. Even though he had been totally devoted to her and to their life together, she had been more…flighty…he thought that was the word.

But then he hadn't been totally honest with her.

While she had known vaguely of the Centre, and that he considered it a bad place, and that many of the people there were bad, he had never told her of his time there. He had never explained that not all the people were bad, Angelo and Broots for instance, or that most were like everyone else, an amalgamation of good and evil.

He'd hidden his nightmares (the doctor he'd once been insisted they were night terrors), he had tried to lock away all the dark horrible parts of himself and hoped that Zoë's cheerful optimism and lack of anything dark in her psyche, despite the one time suicide attempt, she'd only been trying to help her family after all, would heal him.

It hadn't.

But now, standing in a semi-dark kitchen lit mostly by the beginnings of a glorious sunrise, staring at Parker, his former best friend, confidant, huntress, equal, mother of his children, and a thousand other titles and positions that had no name because there were not words to describe everything that she had been, was, and could be to him, he felt better than he had in years.

JMP

With a light smirk Parker moved further into the kitchen. Black was definitely Jarod's color, she thought, as she struggled to control her own heart rate.

Deciding to take control, she said in a calm, lightly sarcastic, and much to her annoyance, deep and throaty voice, "Morning Pez-head, sleep well?"

"As well as you Miss Parker. Coffee?"

Parker stopped short at that, did he actually know that she had gotten less than her usual three to four hours and it was because of him? Taking a deep breath and giving him the predatory toothy smile she had perfected all those years ago, she decided he couldn't know. Especially since every room was sound proof, Daddy hadn't liked to listen to her screaming at night.

"Tea. I swear, Syd has radar for when I have something that's bad for me. Wouldn't want to ruin this lovely morning with an upset and grumpy Belgian, now would we?"

Quickly fixing a cup of herbal tea for Parker and a cup of black coffee for himself, he handed her the cup and leaned on the island counter top.

"No, we wouldn't want to wake Sydney up would we?" His smile was not the open guileless 'trust me' one he used so often, this one was darker, more suited to him, and just like the twinkle in his eye, spoke of mischievous fun.

Suppressing a giggle, Parker took the cup from him and attempted to mask the shudder that his touch caused.

Smiling at him again, she rounded the island and stood next to him, leaning against the cool marble, matching his posture and position, with her hip just touching his.

Staring out at the reddening sky and rising sun, Parker suppressed another colder shudder as the Voice chanted, _Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning sailor's take warning_.

Not daring to glance at Jarod, she said quietly, "Keep your eyes open today, something's wrong."

As he stared at her in surprise and confusion, she calmly drank her tea and wondered how long she could be around Jarod before her doctors said he was a hazard to her health. Feeling the electricity between them where their hips touched, and the increase of her heart rate as Jarod's hands touched hers as he refilled her tea, she decided it would probably be soon.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Soon it would happen, soon everything would begin to come together. The plan was multifaceted and complex, each part has to go off without any problems. Or at least as few as possible, both humanly and otherwise. Even he could not force the world to simply do his bidding. Not yet at any rate.

As soon as he had them though…Both their remarkable abilities combined and ease with which manipulation had always come to him, he would he able to order this pathetic planet to his desires. Others thought that he was gone, thought that they were in control of what was to happen. The Chameleon thought that he was in control, thought that the plan was his and that taking the children was enough. That those two were the extent of the plan, that they were the only keys needed for the future.

The failed pretender knew nothing, the dark man thought as he chuckled softly to himself, even the rats that scurried around him recoiled at the harsh demonic sound. Even the True Pretender and the clone knew nothing. The savant would be able to divine nothing of pertinence, because the truth would be hidden. Masked by the failure, the Chameleon, both he and the true plan would be.

Soon everything would come together, soon the new world order would enter the final stages and then, then everything would be perfect.

None of them knew anything about true power, only he knew the truth.

And as Catherine Parker had been so fond of saying, "the truth can kill you, or set you free."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Parker sat at her desk, finally alone. One of the bad things about creating such a large family was that alone time was minimal. When that family was constantly worrying about you though, Parker chuckled as she remembered her family's various attempts ot make her life easier, which always seemed to include a distinct lack of time to herself.

Re-schooling her features to erase the small smile from her face, Parker picked up the phone as it rang. It would not do to have the others know of her relatively good mood. It was hard enough keeping her health problems from them. The other two members of the Triumvirate didn't need to know and after a lifetime of having otheres know more about herself than she did, Parker was determined to no let anyone who did not directly need to know find out.

But then there were still threats out there. She relaxed her guard with her family, but she was determined to show the rest of the world the same Miss Parker who had hunted the man who was biologically her children's father.

"What?" That hadn't changed either, not as far as her public persona went.

"Miss Parker, there have been reports that the Pretender and Gemini have returned to the Centre," the cold, impersonal tones of Mr. White came. Personally Parker thought the name was hilarious, from what she knew of him Black would have been a more appropriate name, or at least more descriptive of the color of what was left of his damned soul.

"Neither is coming 'back' to the Centre and there is no reason for them to anymore. Unless I have been left out of something?" she asked, her voice just as icy as ever.

"The Centre belongs to you Miss Parker. That was the agreement and that has not changed. But the Pretender and especially Gemini we feel belong to the Triumvirate, despite the fact that we have not actively searched either out since you became a member, as was your request…" Mr. Corna said, his light accent making each word crisp and clear.

Rubbing her temple, Parker fought the headache that was suddenly forming. "I don't think so gentlemen. Neither belongs to anyone, and both will remain as they are, outside of Triumvirate control.

"I do not think you realize quite how important they are, Miss Parker. They are worth far more than their obvious value as pretenders and as complete fully functioning human clone," Mr. White said, anger not changing his tone, but after years of dealing with her Triumvirate counterpart, Parker recognized that he was upset.

"And what is their 'other' value? As breeding stock? Or are we back to the issue of the scrolls?" Parker kept her tone light, she knew she'd get more from both men id she frustrated them.

"Miss Parker, perhaps certain files were destroyed by Mr. Raines and Mr. Parker, but both the Pretender and Gemini Projects had far more to them than the financial gains. Jarod and the Boy are…"

Just then Sam burst into her office, "Miss Parker we have a security breach in the gardens."

"Gentlemen, I hate to cut this short, but I have a situation. We'll reconvene later," she said quickly hanging up, and standing up herself. "Sam, where are…"

"The kids are in the gardens with Dr. Green and Angelo. We haven't heard from their security yet."

Grasping the edge of her desk for support, Parker nodded, "Lockdown the entire compound. No one in or out. And locate Jarod, JJ, and Ethan."

Sam offered no 'yes mam'm,' only a curt nod and left to carry out his orders. Shakely sitting down, Parker sank into her chair and cursed her body for its betrayel of her. Opening her mind she listened, hard, trying desperately to hear the Voice. For any clue as to what might be threatening her children.

"You have children in a place that's crawling with men with guns!" Margaret angrily said as she stormed into the office.

Parker had to give her points for the entrance, but she was in no mood to go 12-rounds with the graying red-head. "We've had men running around with guns in this place for longer than there have been children in this place. Besides, we've had a security breach, those 'men with guns' are locking down the compound," she explained, her eyes locking with Jarod's, he had slipped in with his brothers, father and sister after Margaret's more impressive entrance.

"And you're just sitting there?" Margaret's voice came close to a shriek.

"I was listening, trying to see if the threat was directly to my children." The ice and steel crept into Parker's voice, her tone low and as Jarod knew dangerous. She said nothing of her body's new fragility, nothing could or would ever get her to revel a weakness to an enemy, the Centre's lessons were too deeply ingrained for her to do that.

"Is it?" Jarod asked, cutting off his mother.

"I can't hear anything," Parker admitted, telling herself that this was not admitting to a weakness. "Ethan? Can you?"

"It's so jumbled…I…its so hard to focus…I'm sorry, sister," Ethan looked down, unwilling to meet her gaze.

Quickly standing and moving to Ethan, Parker lifted his chin, making him meet her eyes. Everything about her was gentle, body posture, eyes, smile. Using the same soft tone she used with the children, she said softly, "It's all right Ethan. If anyone knows how hard focusing can be, it's me. The jumble your hearing and the silence I've got…"

_Danger! Stay away from them! MOMMY!_

The sudden force of the Voice in her head made Parker stumble back from Ethan, nearly bringing her to her knees. But it was Tessa's clear voice crying out in her mind that propelled Parker into action.

Pulling her gun from her holster she took off like a shot, racing unerringly to her children.

The others followed, and Jarod caught up to her quickly, but for once she barely took notice of the black clad Pretender or the gun he too had magically produced. The frantic parents reached the secluded garden before the others, but the Major was close enough behind them that he saw. Saw the scene as his son and Parker had found it.

Sydney and Anglo both lay beaten and unconscious, their bodies lying broken. The security guards, who had once protected and laughed with the small children they guarded as well as the aging psychiatrist and odd savant, lie dead. Shot through the head. Blood, bright red wet blood and the darker deeper red of drying blood soaking everything in the small once green garden. And the absence of two small dark-haired children.

He saw Jarod and Parker reach for each other in the moment they realized that Gabe and Tessa were gone. And looking at the black-clad Pretender and the white-clad Hunter, he couldn't tell who was supporting whom.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Everything seemed to stop. The spinning of the Earth, the beating of her frustratingly weak heart, the ironically happy chirping of the birds; it all just stopped. Even time itself seemed to stop as Parker clung to Jarod, needing his strength to keep her from falling to the blood-soaked ground. That ground that may have well as just swallowed her children whole.

She would never openly admit to needing anyone, but she knew the truth. She needed Jarod. Would desperately need his strength, his intelligence, his faith, if they were to find Gabe and Tessa; far more terrifying to her though, was the fact that she not only needed him, but wanted him. She wanted him as desperately as she needed him, for many of the same reasons, but also more. They fit, like the puzzle pieces he had once compared them too, even though they were more dented, chipped, and cracked, maybe even broken, than they had been on that painful grief filled night, they still fit. It was him she screamed for to help her in her nightmares. Him she waited on to call. Never in her life had she waited on any man. And yet she waited on him. Waited for him to discover who he could be and who he was, waited for him to come back even as she chased him, waited on him to forgive her for doing her best even though it had never been enough, waited on him to forgive her for hurting him and choosing instead to protect those still trapped inside, from the inside, instead of taking the new life and the chance he offered.

And she hated that.

Hated that that she so blatantly needed his help. Hated that she wanted him so badly it broke her already weak heart. Hated that she would do for him what she would never do for any other. Hated that he was probably the only man who could ever fulfill all the silly romantic promises that she would always deny wanting. Hated that he claimed to understand her better than anyone else, and proved though books and cards and games and gifts that he did and through his awful hate filled words and furious eyes that he didn't understand her at all. Hated that she was too weak to be the one to walk away, to claim a new life, to move on. Hated that he would enviably take her children away. And hated that he would be right too.

As the small glade began filling with people Parker pulled away from Jarod. In public she could not risk being seen as weak, as vulnerable. Clinging to her anger as she had clung to him, she pulled her anger and fear around her, wrapping it like her long white jacket around her slim frame.

The Major and Jarod watched helplessly as the indomitable Miss Parker pilled her armor on and locked away her too human heart. Margaret and Emily watched as the woman before them shrugged aside help and support, dealing swiftly and efficiently with a horrible situation. Ethan and J.J. watched, fascinated, as Parker did what she did best, find Pretenders.

JMP

Her momentary shock over, Parker moved quickly, seeking out first Sydney's then Anglo's pulses. As she knelt over Sydney, the blood drenching the ground began staining the bottom of her once pure white jacket. Sydney, his eyes opened briefly and he attempted to speak.

"Don't talk Syd. Let's get you to the infirmary first," she said softly, her hand gently covering his mouth, preventing the old man from expending the energy. Her face was a mask of complete professionalism, the same hard face she'd hidden behind for years.

Sydney recognized it, and even as the darkness closed around him again, he took refuge in it. If Parker was hunting again then she would catch her prey. And may God have mercy on the soul of the idiotic fool who'd angered her.

Parker stood, her natural grace seeming to transform her every movement into something Jarod could only equate with a hunting lioness. "Sam, get a medical team here now. I want both Sydney and Anglo under armed guard. Jarod, Major, I want a complete sweep of the area, how either of you would get in, what route you would have taken, everything. J.J., Emily, I want you to find the locations of everyone who would be stupid enough to do this and smart enough to pull it off. Ethan, start listening, focusing, whatever you need to do. Broots!" Spinning away from the scene in the garden, Parker sought out her balding computer-tech. He was somewhere nearby, he was always somewhere nearby.

Over the years, his confidence had grown, and although he was deferential to Parker he could and would stand up to others. "Yes, Miss Parker?" he asked, the signs of his growth in spine and confidence in his lack of stutter and that his hands were still, not wringing nervously.

"Find everything on the Pretender and Gemini programs. I need to know every aspect of both and what the purposes were. More than just the financial gains were involved, and if we have to go back to those damned scrolls, then so be it."

"Everything? There are trillions of files, the individual case studies, millions of simulations per Pretender, and that's not even counting the Donoterase files…" Broots began, knowing she would cut him off, but he wanted her to understand the scope of what she was asking. Even if both knew he would do it and quicker and more thoroughly than anyone else.

"Everything, Broots. This reeks of a pretender, and I need to know everything."

"You didn't need to know everything to hunt my Jarod," Margaret said coldly, she and everyone else had noticed that Parker had not told_her_ to do something.

"No, I just needed to know Jarod. And believe me, Margaret, there are four experts in the world on your precious son. Jarod, Sydney, Broots, and myself. Now, I need you to go back inside and sit with Matt and Sara."

Jarod remembered the other two children of the Parker household, how much they truly seemed part of the family. Until now he had forgotten them, but Parker hadn't. Once again he marveled at her strength and her ability to keep her head in bad situations. But he wondered when this would break her, would break him. The loss of himself and Kyle had broken his mother, and he couldn't comprehend a world with a truly broken Parker, the cracks, many of which he'd inflicted, had seemed bad enough.

"Jarod!" his mother cried and he knew what she wanted. For him to take charge, issue different orders, to usurp Parker.

"Dad, you go to the left and circle back, look for anything," he said, voice firm and controlled, turning to circle from the right himself.

He had to keep his anger focused for it to be useful. Tuning out the angry sigh of his mother, and the retreating footsteps of the rest of his family, he changed himself. He became someone who could steal a child and murder anyone who got in his way. The darkness was always there, always below surface, but always present. He tapped into that darkness as his whole personality changed as well as everything else about him. He was harder, more dangerous, colder than ice, his edge always present anyway, it became sharper more cutting. The small remaining conscious point that was Jarod urged this hired killer and kidnapper away from Parker.

This persona wanted her as much as any other he'd ever been, as much as the true Jarod did. But this persona, with his hard cutting edges and cold deliberate actions wanted desperately to just simply take her. Claim her.

Make her his in all the ways that she was not. Make sure that she would never leave him again. Make sure that she would never want to walk away from him again. Make her understand how much her cold glares had hurt him at that airport after everything that had happened, and not happened at Carthis. Make her understand his fear when she had made her presence on the plane known and he realized there were not enough parachutes. Make her see how much her refusal to help him in his quest to find his family had hurt. Make her see that her obvious affection for and attention to JJ had always been a conflicting source of pride and jealousy for him. Make her see that he only seemed to fit with her, who understood and asked only the questions that were necessary of him. Make her see that this was were he wanted to be, even if he had spent the last decade running from the Centre, it was the only place he fit, she was the only place he fit.

And he hated it.

Hated that she was forever untrusting of him, always holding something back. Hated that she was moving on, capable of starting and creating a whole new and complete life without him. Hated that she was capable of family life, raising children, being a protective "sister" and "daughter," while he had watched his marriage crumble in the wake of his past, his secrets and while he did not fit within the mold of the dutiful son. Hated that she had not needed him to reach her turning point, as he had needed her to reach his. Hated that she was leaving him even as he was regaining her. Hated that she wouldn't let him help or support her. Hated that she had probably known how to contact him these last few years and hadn't. Hated that she had kept him from his children, had kept him from helping and supporting her through pregnancy and childbirth. And hated that she had probably been right too.

And the remaining voice in his head that was Jarod refused to let that happen, refused to give in to his desire to turn around, drag her into her office and claim her. So he moved away from her, looking for any entry points, anything that was out of the ordinary. Anything that could lead him back to his precious children.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Slowly Sydney awoke and immediately wished that unconsciousness would again claim him. Not just because of the pain raging through his head, but also die to the guilt that swarmed his soul. As he stared at the white Centre Infirmary ceiling, a kinder less painful place than the Renewal Wing, he knew he had once again failed. He had failed through all those long years to protect Jarod, had failed to protect Parker, and now he had failed to protect their children.

"Sydney? You awake?" Broots quiet nervous voice broke through the overwhelming stillness of the room. "Listen, Sydney, if you are awake you've got to get up. Miss Parker is barely holding herself together, and you know how…testy…she gets when she's like this. The only people who's heads she hasn't bitten off are JJ and Debbie. But that's only cause she's trying to protect them, especially JJ. Something's going on with her Syd. She wants to know everything about the Pretender and Gemini Projects, and she keeps checking on JJ like she's afraid he'll disappear. Much longer and the kid'll have his own guard on him."

"Sees…she sees JJ as…son," Sydney said, his voice gravelly and horse from disuse, and from the cotton-mouth reaction to the painkillers he was sure he was getting.

"Thank God! You're awake! Her son? But JJ is Jarod's clone, why would Miss P see him as her son?"

"Because…he sees her…maternally. JJ was…first person, first child…save Debbie, who truly…needed her. Too young to be…brother…for both Parker and Jarod…and they were…first…to care about him," Sydney said tiredly.

"So she's trying to lock the barn after the horse escapes? Protect JJ because he's here and Gabe and Tessa…are…missing? But what about wanting to know about the Pretender and Gemini Programs? Why care now about the details and motivations and everything about them? Broots asked, some puzzle pieces falling into place but others remaining a mystery.

"Triumvirate…could be pressuring her…If they knew...Jarod and JJ were…here…"

"Yeah, she's never said much about what happened that got Mr. Raines and Lyle axed…literally…and her put in charge. I mean something happened. They wouldn't just let her stop hunting for Jarod…not after losing the scrolls and Adama's death and everything. Would they?" Broots asked worriedly.

Only the quiet beeping and whirling of the medical machines answered him. Sydney had once again succumbed to the pain and falling into a healing unconsciousness.

JMP

Parker glared at the papers piling up on her desk. She wanted to scream, cry, throw things, beat the hell out of someone, anything but sitting and calming doing paperwork like nothing had happened. It had only been a few hours, but there were so few answers and so much fear, the dark haired tired eyed woman didn't think she could keep holding it together long. She just couldn't pretend everything was fine.

The quiet knock on the door surprised her, and quickly her mask fell back into place. No tears, no fear, no exhaustion, no weakness, only hard determined strength and a heart protected by layers of ice and steel.

"Hey, Em, you didn't make your appointment and Debs called, said something was up…" the brown-haired, brown-eyed woman who walked into Parker's office said, worry written on her face.

"So you decided to make a house call? What are you the 'good Dr. Adams'?" Parker snarled. Unsure of how to feel at the appearance of her friend and doctor.

"Don't you snarl at me Em. All I'll do is pull out a bigger needle. Maybe one about the size of an amniocentesis needle? You remember that one? Everyone is afraid of a needle _that_ big," Kate O'Neill smiled at her long-time friend's defense mechanism.

"Did they run out of Marines and Air Force boys for you to cut up?" Parker wasn't ready to give into her relief at seeing Kate. Their relationship was the one friendship outside of the Centre that had never been broken, despite Mr. Parker's attempts.

"They aren't boy and remember, I'm your doctor too. Though God knows I want you to go to a specialist…" Kate's smile never altered. "What's wrong Em? Debs was practically hysterical on the phone and she learned calmness under pressure from the best."

"Jarod and his family are here."

"That would explain you a little, not her though. So is he as absolutely delicious as the photos you showed me?" Kate's grin turned slightly wicked.

"I thought you were engaged? By the way, I am NOT wearing pink or baby blue, and if you put a bow on my ass…" Parker threatened, knowing that Kate wouldn't do either to her, but feeling the need to keep snarling at her. She wasn't ready to break down, not yet, but when she did Parker knew only two people it would truly be safe to break in front of. Kate was one of them.

"Em, I haven't even asked you to be in the wedding."

"You just got engaged last week, and I was the first person you told. Besides, I'm the official best friend, it's my right to be in this wedding, and if you try to keep me out of it, I'll just terrorize whoever you do ask until they refuse to take part and then you'll have to ask me. Who else are you going to ask anyway? You already have two women to chose between for 'mother of the bride.'"

"True, maid of honor sound good? Gabe as ring bearer and Tessa as flower girl? Debs is a little old for that job," Kate grinned at Parker as she walked crossed the large office to her friend. The grin disappeared as she watched Parker's mask fall for a second, the grief and pain shining bright in her eyes, but then it was gone again, the mask firmly in place. "Em, let me help you, it's the kids isn't it? Em, this is me, Katie…you sister…keeper of your secrets…please," Kate sat on the edge of the large desk that had always dominated the Chairman's office and grabbed her longtime friend's hand.

Parker sighed, she was right. This was Katie who knew everything. Katie who she held nothing back from. Katie the one person who knew the full truth. Katie who had been badgering her for years about her health. Katie who unlike Jarod actually knew when to simply leave her be. "It's the kids…their…their…someone took them."

"Okay then. What are we doing to get them back and how can I help?"

Parker watched Kate's chocolate eyes fill with worry and fear, but also heard the strength and optimism in her voice. Kate O'Neill never gave up, didn't know the meaning of the word impossible, and when doing her job had less tack than Parker did on a good day. "We're looking, it looks like a Pretender did it. It would take one to get past security."

"Yeah it would. After all the Twenty decided to stay with you and they designed it. Although some of the people I work with would probably love a crack at your security, just for the practice…but then you know computer geeks, always getting where they don't belong," Kate said, covering her slip easily. Not that Parker had ever believed the burnout and teaching excuse given for pulling the young surgeon from the field and sticking her under a mountain in Colorado. "Well when it comes to tracking Pretenders you are the best. You thin it's that Alex psycho-creep?" Kate reasoned, noticing how close her friend was to losing it.

"It's a thought, but the Triumvirate was asking questions earlier…They know Jarod and JJ are here and they still want them…"

"Well duh, would you give up either one easily? I mean you did chase him rather single-mindedly for how long?" Kate raised one eyebrow at her friend's words.

"Jarod forced that. He tried…no he made the entire world, my entire life about him…" Parker began angrily.

"Did he? Or did you let him? Lyle hunted too for a while, he never got near as obsessed as you did," Kate probed gently.

"He was never as tormented with the past the same way I was! Jarod tormented me with my past, with things I had no control over even then. Hell he even tormented me with Lyle's past, all he ever did to Lyle was blow up his car a play a few pranks on him!"

"He also wasn't as successful as you at tracking Jarod was he?"

"No, my delightful little twin didn't understand…"

"Understand what?"

"That to catch Jarod…"

"To catch Jarod what?" Kate watched as a light gleamed in Parker's eyes. Waiting for her friend to understand.

"To catch Jarod you have to play his game. And by forcing me to hunt him, it was the Centre who forced me to play the game. They were the one who created and forced the Jarod-centric universe on me," Parker sighed, letting go of some of her anger.

"So is it him your mad at or is it the Centre?" Kate asked gently.

"I'm mad at both. He left...surely he must have realized that the real isn't Jarod-centric, but he still forced me to exist in a world with him at its center even as he didn't force that on Broots or Sydney or Lyle or well…anyone else!" Parker yelled at Kate.

"But Sydney tried to help and Broots, well Broots practically worships the guy."

"I helped…I never shot him, just near him. And the 'information' on his family that the private investigator found was fake, it was a trap…Boston was too…he didn't even see the sweepers until he saw Sydney and me…" Parker said quietly, almost too herself.

"But does he know all this? He may be a Pretender but he's also human and well, can he see past his own perspective in those situations? Cause if he can then we may be looking at the perfect man," Kate quipped, an easy grin on her face.

"Thinking of leaving Hank? Believe me, Jarod is as close to perfect as it gets," Parker said sadly.

"One, I'm an Air Force brat marrying a Marine, it took Dad long enough to get over that. Two, Hank is perfect for me, and maybe Jarod isn't perfect. Maybe it's more that he's perfect for one person…"

"He married that red-headed twit."

"And he divorced her. Besides you were going to quit the Centre and move to Oregon with Tommy, so what's the difference?"

With a sigh, Parker slumped in her chair, the bloodstained jacket she still worse skimming the intricate panel floor. "I don't know, Kate. I just…whenever we're together there's this electricity, this spark…and its like we're the only ones in the room. I cant concentrate when he's around, but once we stop fighting we're on the same wavelength. A couple years ago when there was the potential he was my brother…"

"I remember, you were miserable. You hated that you might be related to him," Kate said remembering that frantic phone call.

"I didn't like thinking he could be my twin when all I wanted was to jump his bones!" Parker exploded.

"Just jump him or keep him around constantly?" Kate asked.

Spinning her chair around once, twice, three times, Parker thought. Was it just lust she felt or was it more? Was it both? Jarod was handsome in a very dark dangerous way, it appealed to the part of her that had never outgrown her bad boy stage. But he was also endearing and charming and sweet, he was just rarely those things with her. He lost his control with her, he fought with her, he never coddled to protected or shielded her from anything. Usually he was the one shoving ugly truth after ugly truth in her face. But when they worked together they were a good team. They automatically backed each other up and trusted the other to do the job.

Sighing and looking her best, female, friend straight in the eye, Parker stood up, "I don't have time for this. I have…we have to find Gabe and Tessa. That's all that matters now. Not how I feel or don't feel…"

Parker was cut off by Jarod's entrance into the room. Jarod's forceful and angry entrance. "What do you want?" she changed gears quickly, hoping he hadn't heard much or would think much of what she had been saying.

"There's very little trace of anything Parker. They came in as delivery guys and went out over the fence…who is she?" he asked suddenly, jerking his head in Kate's direction.

"Kate O'Neill, two ll's. Nice to meet you. Heard a lot about you. And that's just from the doctors and nurses who aren't sure if you should be arrested or given a medal," Kate threw on her widest grin and held out her hand.

"You're a doctor?" he asked, taking her hand. His eyes shifted to Parker, wondering why a doctor was talking to her, much less having a normal, friendly conversation with Parker.

"Surgeon, actually. I work for the CCP, but since I'm also the official best friend, I've handled all of Munchkin 1 and 2's healthcare," Kate said watching for Parker's reaction.

"Your _that_ Kate O'Neill?"

"Yeahsureyabetcha," she drawled, the often hidden Minnesota accent of her early childhood coming out, "I also handle all of Em's health care. Maybe you can help me convince her…"

"No specialist, Kate. Only you." Parker broke in forcefully, knowing what Kate wanted.

"Em, I'm good, I'm one of the best, but I am not primarily cardio-thoracic. I can get the best on your case. Hell I can get them to come here if that's what you want, but this is your health and I've been your friend, hell your sister since undergrad, I want what's best for you. The kids need you to have the best and he," Kate mimicked Jarod by jerking her head in his direction," needs to you have the best."

"You are the best Katie, there's no one who can do what you can. Not even the Pretenders, they try, but they don't have what you have," Parker said, trying to find a way to change the topic.

"What's wrong? Why does Parker need a cardio-thoracic surgeon?" Jarod asked, his eyes narrowing as his gaze roamed over Parker's frail body.

"She's…" Kate began.

"Don't you dare Kate O'Neill. You know damn well you can't say a word without my say-so," Parker cut her off.

"I knew I hated doctor-patient confidentiality for a reason. Em, he needs to know. If anything just to help keep you calm and make sure you rest, with the kids…with everything going on right now you know you aren't going to rest your going to just barrel through everything until you have Gabe and Tessa back in your arms and Alex psycho-creep dead, and if you don't rest if you ignore the pain then we could lose you, I can do a lot but we don't have a donor yet and I don't want to have to hospitalize you until I absolutely have too, but I will if you don't take care of yourself, and that means telling him!" Kate argued, imploring her friend to give in.

"All right, tell him," Parker sank back into her chair, exhausted.

"Basically, she needs a heart transplant, I can give you all the technobabble if you want, but that's the crux of the matter. We don't have a donor, but she is on the list, but with her blood type its, difficult," Kate explained the basics.

"A heart transplant, why?" Jarod asked, wanting to know since he knew Parker's medical record. The last time he'd seen her, on that god-awful plane over the Atlantic, she'd been fine, medically at least.

"Denny Duquette, from Grey's Anatomy, you who loves pop culture and has a sister should know that one," Parker said, picking up a pen from her desk and twirling it between her fingers.

Jarod shook his head, knowing exactly what they were referring too. He couldn't believe that Parker didn't have a specialist working on her case, even though Kate O'Neill was one of the best, she wasn't primarily cardio-thoracic, she was trauma. But he did see Parker's reasoning, Kate was a friend, obviously highly trusted, after years of the Centre controlling her health care he could understand Parker needing to have someone she trusted in charge, that Kate was also the kids primary physician said the trust and friendship between the two was deep; an unbreakable bond if they'd been friends since college. It made sense suddenly, why Parker had so many levels of care set up for the kids, why he was in the will concerning the guardianship and the Centre, why Sydney had been so worried about her blood pressure and why she'd given up coffee. He had no doubt there were many other rules in place, concerning her diet and work and exercise. But he didn't understand why Parker hadn't just told him, why she seemed to be keeping it a secret, the threats she'd faced inside the Centre were gone, some still existed outside the Centre, but still, why all the secrecy?

His eyes continued to bore into Parker, his anger and frustration from earlier boiling up again. This latest reveal adding to the list of things he was angry with her about. Desperation crept into his eyes as well, he knew very well the risks of heart transplant surgery, he knew he could lose her and he didn't know if he could face a world without her, and that made him even angrier. That he was so dependent on her, on one infuriating, frustrating, stubborn woman who never listened and never told him what he needed to know, what he had a right to know.

"Well, two of you seem to have lots to talk about…I'm…going to just…go now…" Kate said, seeing the change in Jarod's eyes, it was a look she recognized, though she really doubted Em would recognize it. It was the same look Hank got in his eyes when she'd gone too far and royally ticked him off or he'd thought for some reason that he was going to lose her and needed reassurance that she was real, alive and still his. Her dad got the same look with Sam, although for her mental sanity Kate pretended that she didn't see that look in her father's eyes, or in Sam's. The grinning doctor started edging toward the door.

"Anglo and Sydney are in the infirmary, will you take a look?" Parker asked, noticing Kate's not too subtle retreat. The look in Jarod's eyes wasn't scaring her, the Pretender never truly scared her, but it certainly wasn't a new look either. It was the same one that he had whenever they were gearing up for a face to face argument, even if there was something else in that hard hot gaze as well.

"Sure, it'll give me something to do besides look at your updated file and decide what I should yell at you for first. Can't get married without my best friend you know," Kate joked as she walked to the door.

"Remember what I said no pink, no baby blue and if you put a bow…" Parker threatened lightly, eyes on Jarod the whole time.

"I know, I know, there won't be a wedding because you'll kill me," Kate laughed as she tossed Parker a two-fingered salute before slipping out of the office.

Parker watched Jarod carefully as she slowly stood up. She didn't like the lack of power she felt with him towering over her, she always felt on more equal footing with him when they were in the same predicament, somehow it reminded her that he wasn't so much more than she was if he had similar problems. Remembering something Katie had once said about treating battle-hardened Special Ops soldiers Parker maintained eye contact with him. It was surprisingly hard though, his eyes were hard and angry, something she was used to from him, but there was also hurt and fear. Those she was not used to, people were supposed to fear her not fear for her, and as common as hurt was between them, she wasn't used to actually seeing it. Hearing it in his voice over the phone was another matter entirely, but at least her eyes were hidden from him then.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why the HELL didn't you tell me?" Jarod asked, his voice soft, but there was nothing gentle or kind in the way he looked at her or in his hard dark eyes.

"It was my business, not yours. You don't actually have any right at all to know what is going on in my life," she shot back, anger stiffening her spine, even as her knees weakened at the sight of this man.

"It is my business as long as you have my children living with you…"

"Your children? Gabe and Tessa are MY children as well Pez-head, and tucking them in one night does not make you anything more than…"

"More than what?" he interrupted, "A unwilling sperm donor?" the venom in his voice hurt, but Parker had too much experience with hurt to ever let it show.

"This is pointless, Jarod, we can argue about my health and all the things…you probably need to know, even if you don't have the right to demand to know, after we get them back," Parker attempted to back out of the argument she could see brewing, it was a first for her, trying to back out of an argument with him, but the look in his eyes and the heat she could feel in herself told her that losing her temper with this man right now would be either the best experience of her life or the worst mistake she could ever make.

And she didn't know which idea scared her more.

"No you don't Miss Parker, you don't get out of this that easily. We are going to find the kids, and we are going to have this discussion. But right here, right now, the lies stop, the deceptions and half-truths stop," he growled at her, grasping her arms tightly.

Parker wondered for a moment how she had come to be standing so close to him, but put the thought out of her mind, if he wanted to fight, well she'd fight. "HA! You're the master of the half-truth and deception aren't you?" She stepped closer to him, even with his hands on her arms she still had some movement and she knew that invading his personal space would get to him. It always did.

Jarod struggled not to take a step back, to try to remove her from his personal space, although some remaining speck of logic in his brain told him that letting go of her would be a great way to get her out of his personal space. Not backing down to her challenge because he had never backed down to her dares in his life, even though more than a few of them had ended up getting both of them punished, he took a step forward as well, putting them so close Parker could barely lift her head to meet his gaze. She was close enough he realized that a slight shift on either of their parts in the right direction and he could finally feel her lips on his. Something he'd dreamt about for years, especially after the debacle on Carthis. Throughout his, short, marriage to Zoë it had haunted him, the what-if becoming the worst of all his nightmares. "Don't push me Parker, you don't know what I'm capable of," he threatened darkly.

"You've never actively sought to hurt someone unless you thought they deserved it. The only people you've physically hurt are those with crimes against children. The only thing you'll do to hurt me is continue to throw things I never had control over in my face, same as you've done since the beginning. Nothing new, I'm sure I'll survive Rat," she smirked at him, noticing how close they were and how little forward movement it would take to cause another shift in their relationship. Not that the shift wasn't waiting to happen, could have happened years earlier, before this current chapter of their story had begun. Pressed up against him she knew exactly what she was doing to him, and the part of herself that cared…too much…for this man was thrilled at his reaction. Even after everything that had changed since her rejection at the airport, something he had to know was necessary if both of them had wanted to survive that day and the fact that had she not rejected him Gabe would still be a prisoner and Raines and Lyle still alive, that he still reacted to her that some part of him still desired her was a balm to an old wound, and caused her knees to weaken a little more.

He hadn't let go of her arms, and though his grasp was still tight it was not painful, and Parker was thankful he was holding her, his arms were the only thing keeping her standing at this point. The anger that had steeled her spine and her heart seemed to have melted away along with the distance between them. This close to him she felt overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of his personality. Vaguely she wondered if Marion had ever felt this way about Robin, often she felt like she was playing Marion or maybe Gisbourne, on a bad day, to his Hood. Shaking her head to try to clear it of silly thoughts inspired more by watching BBCAmerica with Debbie than any reality she lived in, she realized her mistake too late.

Moving her head had changed their position, and brought her lips a hairsbreadth away from his.

"Jar…" she began, her eyes flitting to his lips for a moment before once meeting his dark gaze.

"Parker, don't move, don't…just don't." This close to her, he felt his control slipping, felt that part of him, that part that was in actuality his entire heart, soul, and being, that wanted her. That part of him that was willing to take her any way he could, and he felt that part winning. Feeling part of himself shatter, he released her arms and backed away from her. He wanted her, but he wanted her to want him just as much. With their children missing and the reality of her health now out, he didn't want this now. He wanted to do this right. He wanted to woo her and date her and not start something he knew he couldn't possibly stop in her office, in Mr. Parker's office. Even if that had been a rather persistent fantasy during the long years of his running and her chasing.

"Funny, never took you to be a tease. Thought you were a man of action," she spat at him, angry at feeling so disappointed by his pulling back. She was sure he had a good reason, he always had a good reason, it couldn't have been that he didn't want it, because she knew he had. She knew it as certainly as she knew her own name.

"I wanted…"

"Wanted what Jarod? This is us, we don't do flowers and candy and jewelry and sweet nothings. We never have. Now, if your done here, kindly leave. I have work to do." The tone of dismissal in her voice was unmistakable as she fought to regain her balance. He always had been good at throwing her off balance, maybe she thought darkly, turning away from him, that was all it had been. A way to throw her off-balance, a way to punish her for all the things he thought she had done wrong in life.

Silently cursing himself, Jarod grabbed her arm and spun her around, moving forward at the same time, closing the distance between them.

Parker struggled against him, but he'd pinned her between her desk and his own body. Once again electricity sparked between them wherever they touched. He'd grabbed her arms and crowded closer to her to avoid being hit. "What do you want, Jarod?" she asked for the first time in decades struggling to maintain her cold calm professional mask.

"You," was his brief answer before his lips captured hers. It wasn't gentle or sweet or anything that Parker would have thought it would be. It was rough, hard and demanding, all teeth and tongue and rough demanding possession. She didn't know who was possessing who, but coherent thought was beyond her as her arms wound around his neck and explored as much of his body as she could. Growing annoyed with the limits placed on her by his clothing she pulled at his jacket until it slid off his shoulders. Grinning inside, she pulled at his black tee-shirt. They briefly broke their kiss as two sets of hands yanked the garment off. She could feel his hands as well, roaming and exploring. He retaliated at the change in their balance by pulling her from the desk long enough to rid her of the blood-stained white jacket. Sitting her roughly back on the large oak desk he then rid her of the bright red blouse, retaining enough of his mind and coordination to not rip the silk garment.

She was particularly pleased she that her skirt had been chosen with him in mind, it was far shorter than she'd worn in years, since her pregnancy her clothes had changed subtly, but today she had dressed for him, wanting to impress that she was the same Parker now as she had been then.

When she felt Jarod lifting her onto the desk and his mouth and hands grow more insistent more demanding, she couldn't do anything but respond. Clinging to him as tightly as she could Parker put everything she had into the kiss, willing him to understand exactly what she was saying. Even if she didn't understand it herself.

Standing at the door, Broots wished that one of them had heard the door open, because this was not what he needed to see. It was one thing to give up his long time fantasy of his gorgeous leggy boss, and to accept that she only saw him as brother. It was another thing entirely to catch her and Jarod halfway to third base and both missing half their clothes in her office. On her desk no less.

Closing his eyes and turning around, he loudly said, "Miss Parker, we have something. A van was found three miles down the road, all the passengers killed, the sweepers say it was a single bullet to the head for each. They…uh…found…Tessa's monkey's shirt in the van. It's being brought to the lab now." With that he quickly fled the room, hoping that they had heard him, and hoping that maybe she wouldn't kill him. The thought briefly occurred that Jarod might kill him as well, he knew exactly how scary the Pretender could be after all.

Broots words had cut through the passion and lust that had been clouding her brain and she pulled away from Jarod. "Time to get back to work Pez-head," she said, trying not to smile as she grabbed her shirt and silently thanked Jarod for not going all caveman and ripping it off. Quickly re-donning her blouse and jacket, she checked her hair and turned back to Jarod who was likewise pulling himself together. She just as quickly turned away, admiring him and his fantastic body was not going to get anything done. Taking a deep breath, the ice and steel refroze and she locked the goofy-happy dazed smile away and only stern control kept it from erupting on her face as she strode quickly out of the room, leaving Jarod in his tracks.

Jarod smirked and pulling his black leather jacket on jogged after her. If she thought that a reemergence of the Ice Queen was enough to scare him she was wrong. He'd waited almost too long and nearly screwed up too many times. There was no way he was letting this thing between them end with another almost. Locking those thoughts away deep in his mind he caught up to her at the elevator and calmly strode in next to her. When the doors opened onto SL-17 and they walked side by side into his old sim lab, they presented a united front, balancing each other, and giving the impression of being together more than ever.

Now was the time for problem solving. Now was the time for their particular talents to shine. Now was their time.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Gabe glared at the tall man, keeping his small hand wrapped firmly around Tessa's. He couldn't let them be separated, if they were separated then Momma and Daddy wouldn't find them and Gabe knew his parents were looking for them.

Tessa whimpered quietly behind him, she was scared and nothing the Voice said was making her feel better. She held on tightly to Gabe with one hand and the other held tightly to her monkey, Manny-Hammy. She'd left Manny-Hammy's shirt in the van they'd been in, just like the Voice had told her to, but now her little pocket-rider monkey was cold and scared, just like her.

"Quiet Tess, its gonna be okay. Momma will find us," Gabe whispered to her.

"Momma and Daddy, Gabe. Both is coming, Gamma says so."

"Keep quiet and don't say anything about hearing Gamma," Gabe muttered to her as he gave his sister a hug. He wanted the comfort as much as she needed it.

"'K'K Gabe," Tessa smiled brightly at him, snuggling closer into his arms. It was cold and dark in the room they were in and she hated the cold and hated the dark.

Gabe was scared of the dark too.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The siblings are close to each other, how novel for Centre children. Usually Parker siblings want to destroy each other," the man said from the shadows.

Gabe knew the man had been there, watching them and knew the man was connected to the Centre. Why else would anyone kidnap Tessa and him, he reasoned. He remembered when the Centre had been a bad place, before Momma had taken over. He remembered mean Mr. Lyle and this shadow man reminded the scared little boy of his very first real Boogeyman.

The man smiled down at his two little prizes. Soon they would accept him and soon the mother, oh the precious jewel of a mother, would come. Then his revenge would be complete.

"Come now little ones. You both must be hungry and tired, how would you like some ice cream? It's my favorite," he said, grasping Gabe's arm lightly. He moved into what little light there was and smiled reassuringly at the children. "My name is Alex and I'm going to be taking care for you for a while."

"Where's Momma and Daddy?" Tessa asked.

"I want my mom and dad," Gabe said defiantly.

"They'll be here soon. Until then we're going to play some games. You two like games don't you?"

Unsure of whether to trust this suddenly very reassuring kind man or to not trust him like Momma and Grandpa Sydney and Uncle Broots had taught him, Gabe slowly nodded.

"Good, I like games too. But first how about some ice cream and we get you two cleaned up?"

Gabe narrowed his brown eyes at this stranger and tightened his gripe on Tessa's hand.

Tessa looked wide-eyed at her brother, trying to get him to understand what the Voice was telling her.

"We want our Mom and Dad. Where's our Mom and Dad?" Gabe asked definitely, pulling Tessa to the floor with him as he plopped down.

Alex merely looked on in anger as the Dark Man laughed.


End file.
